1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for interpreting variables produced by a plurality of sensors and more particularly to such a method adapted for use in communicating with sensors which are made integral with medical monitoring equipment, and which communicate by means of serial or analog protocols, and wherein the method provides a rapid means by which a user, such as a clinician, may interface with diverse monitors and thereafter receive the information produced by the monitors in a predetermined format and at a predetermined destination.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The medical profession has long sought an effective method for receiving and thereafter evaluating clinical information which may be produced by various types of medical monitoring equipment or other diagnostic equipment and which could, for example be located in remote locations such as in a laboratory which is located in another area of a hospital. Further, the medical profession has long sought an effective method whereby this clinical information may be both freely exchanged to those individuals having a need to know same, such as hospital administrators, records clerks, and laboratory technicians, as well as have the information available for storage or transmission to any number of predetermined locations such as printers, video monitors, modems or local area networks, as conditions warrant. As should be understood the various medical monitoring equipment and other diagnostic devices used in laboratories and other clinical setting such as surgical suites, emergency rooms, etc. while having some similar component, have typically communicated with automated control assemblies, such as personal computers, by means of serial or analog protocols which have varied somewhat from one to the other. Therefore, software programs have been developed which have provided a means by which such information may be converted into a common format such as an interpretable ASCII data and thereafter exported or imported into another program for use therein. However, it should be readily recognized that the importation and exportation of interpretable ASCII data and the reformatting of same for use with a new software program is quite often time consuming and further may cause other problems which have detracted from the usefulness of this same technique.
The inconveniences and hardships occasioned to a patient by the delays which occur as a consequence of a clinician reviewing clinical data which may be produced by a plurality of medical sensors or other diagnostic equipment which may be positioned in remote location is readily apparent. Frequently, the information is received in piecemeal fashion and in various formats which require some time for evaluation. Further comparing and contrasting of the information is often necessary to determine the proper therapy for the malady under consideration. In addition to the foregoing the information has not, heretofore, been available to a clinician at a centralized location whereby the clinician can easily review same quickly and efficiently.
While the prior art has suggested various control assemblies including software programs which have provided a means by which particular clinical information such as medical history files, may be entered and thereafter used at diverse locations by clinicians and others for diagnostic and other purposes, such software programs have typically been cumbersome, complex and have not included a convenient means by which sensor information produced by a device which is foreign to the software program structure can be rapidly interfaced with the software program with a minimal amount of reprogramming of same.
Therefore it has long been known that it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus for interpreting variables produced by a plurality of sensors which communicate by means of serial or analog protocols and which can be employed in a wide variety of different institutional environments, and without the need for substantial alteration or rewriting of software programs which interface with same, and which can be manufactured and purchased at a relatively moderate cost, and which is both highly efficient in operation, and which further reduces to an absolute minimum the assorted problems associated with the monitoring and interpretation of clinical information which may be produced by a plurality of monitors and other diagnostic devices which may be positioned in remote locations.